Fix iMessage not working – Waiting for Activation

Are you facing a problem with your iMessage? If iMessage is not working for you then don’t worry. You have come to the right page. Today we would be taking a look at how to fix iMessage Not working with the error which is “Waiting for activation” in iMessage. So, guys, you might be facing a problem with iMessage.

How to Fix iMessage not working?

Before we start you need to make sure 3 things. These things are basically troubleshooting steps that have helped a lot of people who were facing this “Waiting for Activation” error in iMessage. If you want to use iMessage on PC, you can find step by step guide here.

Your phone number in Contacts:

So the very first thing is that under the phone application you should have your number in Contacts. It shows up at the top of the contacts list.

If you don’t see your number over there, Go to Settings > Phone and here the very first option is My Number. Just go ahead and enter your number there and this problem should be fixed.

Automatic Time

The second point is that you need to make sure is that the date and time are set to Automatic. Because there might be some date and time issues with your device which would lead to iMessage or FaceTime not working properly.

So just Go to Settings > General > Date & Time and here you will need to enable the “Automatic” option. This should change the date and time of your iPhone to your current location automatically.

Working Network

The 3rd thing you need to make sure is that you have a working cellular or Wi-Fi network. Because there might be some issues with your cellular or Wi-Fi network which leads to iMessage not working.

So you would want to make sure these three things are working properly and they are set up properly.

How to Fix iMessage Waiting for activation

Talk to your career:

The 1st method is just go ahead and give a call to your carrier. Because it might be possible that your carrier does not support iMessage or there might be some limitations on your carrier’s end or you might need to have separately apply for having iMessage and FaceTime. The problem could be solved by just giving a call to your carrier. Contact them so that they can help you in solving this issue.

Airplane Mode:

The 2nd method is that you just need to go ahead and try up airplane mode. This might sound funny but this really helped us also to fix this problem. So how to do this?

Just Go to Settings, scroll down and find “Messages”. Tap on that and just turn the Messages OFF and now you just go ahead and turn on Airplane mode. Wait for a couple of seconds until your entire carrier is lost. So that you can again gain your carrier access and try working with them.

Now let’s go ahead and turn Airplane mode OFF, now let’s go ahead back to Messages, turn it ON and it should start working.

Sign in again:

If the above methods don’t work for you, don’t worry. Just sign out of your Apple ID and again go ahead and sign in with your Apple ID.

Now what do you need to make sure is that again going to Send & Receive, Click on “Use your Apple ID for iMessage” and now you need to just go ahead and enter your credentials. Which includes your Apple ID and the password for your Apple ID.

Once you enter all your details up right there and tap on Sign In and it would take couple of seconds to work and it would just go ahead and have working iMessage.

Reset/Restore:

If these all 3 methods did not work for you, the last method that is left out just go ahead and Reset or either Restore your device.

Warning: This will wipe your device data so make sure to backup before restoring.

Just Go to Settings > General and scroll all the way down until you get to Reset. Tap that and now tap “Reset All Content and Settings”

It will ask you for your Password, Just enter the password for your device and the entire data off your device would be lost but this would basically just go ahead and help you guys to gain access or have working iMessage.

So once you have done all these methods, the error that says “Waiting for activation” in iMessage should be fixed.

I hope that you found this tutorial helpful and the “Waiting for Activation” error message is now fixed for you. If you were able to fic this issue then make sure to share it with your friends and follow us on twitter for more tutorials like this one.